Jules et Jim

Francois Truffaut, France, 1961, 120 minutes

Of all the films associated with the French Nouvelle Vague, Truffaut's
Jules Et Jim is probably one of the most memorable and enduringly popular
to emerge from the period. The film begins in pre-war Paris, spanning the first
three decades of this century and culminating in the Depression hit thirties.
The story (based on a little-known autobiographical novel by Henri-Pierre Poche)
charts the friendship that evolves between Jules and Jim and examines the strains
that are placed on this relationship once the bewitching Catherine appears on
the scene.

Jeanne Moreau's performance as the impulsive and restless femme fatale provides
the focus for the complex triangular relationship that unfolds; as she swings
unpredictably between the affection of Jules and Jim she manages to simultaneously
to evoke our sympathy (at her frustrated search for happiness and fulfilment)
and indignance (at the flighty and egocentric behaviour that this search entails).
Truffaut combines the part-comic, part-tragic narrative with a variety of cinematic
devices (freeze-frames, jump-cuts, and contemporary footage) to produce a film
which is by turns gentle and hard-hftting. The plot does tend to drag in the
middle. However it is still a beautiful and touching film and a sensittive portrayal
of three individuals caught up in a destructive and ultimately tragic ménage
à trois.